Pathways to social complexity and state formation in the southern zambezian region (2008

Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 DOI 10.1007/s10437-008-9031-3 O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E Pathways to Social Complexity and State Formation in the Southern Zambezian Region Nam C Kim & Chapurukha M Kusimba Published online: 23 September 2008 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract Theorists have put forth various anthropological perspectives on the variables leading to social complexity and the emergence of state-level polities This paper incorporates data from the Zambezian region of Southern Africa in order to contribute to the literature on social evolutionary theory It traces the cultural trajectories of communities that flourished during the region’s Iron Age within the Shashi-Limpopo Basin, leading to the emergence of the Great Zimbabwe polity In examining the archaeological record, the authors discuss the emergence of state-like societies, offering a review of current interpretations and explanations for the emergent complexity Les théoriciens ont émis plusieurs points de vue anthropologiques sur les variables qui conduisent la complexité sociale et l’émergence des états Cet article est une contribution la littérature sur la théorie de l’évolution des sociétés réalisée partir des données de la région du Zambèze au sud de l’Afrique Il retrace les trajectoires culturelles de communautés qui sont apparues au cours de l’age du fer dans le Bassin du Shashi-Limpopo et qui ont conduit l’émergence de l’état du Grand Zimbabwe En s’appuyant sur les données archéologiques, les auteurs discutent l’émergence de sociétés-états, offrant une revue des dernières interprétations et explications au sujet des complexités émergentes Keywords Great Zimbabwe Zimbabwe culture Mapungubwe Fortification Social and political complexity States Urbanism Zambezia N C Kim Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA C M Kusimba (*) Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA e-mail: ckusimba@fieldmuseum.org 132 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 Introduction The origins of social complexity, urbanism, and archaic states are of profound interest for social scientists Investigating social evolution is an important aspect of elucidating culture change and human organizational behavior, and this is one of the core missions of anthropology Studying the evolution of social complexity offers insights into understanding strategies that segments of humankind have employed to accumulate power (Earle 1997; Haas 2001; Holl 2000; Robb 1999), or in the causes of social change and societal inequality (Blanton et al 1996; Blanton 1998; Carneiro 1970, 1990; Feinman 2001; Johnson and Earle 2000; Trigger 2003) Furthermore, to truly understand human grouping patterns and political organization within our modern-day contexts, it is essential that we explore their historical dimensions and manifestations Archaeology thus contributes to the social evolutionary debate by highlighting the origins of stratified societies as a precursor to more complex conglomerations such as the city-state and territorial state At the same time, archaeology helps us understand how and why people living in similar ecosystems may embrace different strategies, ranging from egalitarian or acephalous, heterarchical, or hierarchical, in creating communities (Ehrenreich et al 1995; Holl 2000, 2003; McIntosh 1999) This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the emergence of social complexity worldwide; a debate that we believe has not yet incorporated the rich data from Sub-Saharan Africa (cf Holl 2000, 2003; Kusimba 1999; McIntosh 1999; Pikirayi 2001; Stahl 2001; Trigger 2003) In doing so, we reexamine published archaeological records primarily from three extensively studied sites of the southern Zambezian region, namely Bambandyanalo, Mapungubwe, and Great Zimbabwe, to address factors that contributed to the rise and development of social complexity and statehood in southern Africa We discuss the main archaeological indicators of social complexity, current interpretations of these data and how they fit into the general debate of archaeology of social complexity worldwide The Shashi-Limpopo Basin experienced major technological and sociopolitical transformations towards the end of the first millennium AD (Manyanga 2006:138; Pwiti 2005) These transformations included rapid demographic growth, due in part to migration and natural growth, an increase in societal inequality evidenced by differential household size, wealth and status, and the emergence of site hierarchies (Manyanga 2006:138) To what can we attribute the transformation of acephalous Iron Age societies of southern Africa into state societies? To answer these questions, we first revisit the history of social formations traceable to the late first millennium BC when pastoral and agrarian communities inhabited the region (Pikirayi 2001:34) Second, we look at the underpinnings of societal inequalities using an intersite and regional perspective that highlights the efflorescence of Bambandyanalo (also known as K2), Mapungubwe (Huffman 2005, 2007), and Great Zimbabwe (Pikirayi 2006a) We believe this historical approach provides clues towards understanding the prevailing conditions under which certain household heads could have accumulated unequal wealth and legitimacy, enabling them to become leaders of their various polities (Haas 2001; Kusimba 1999; Kusimba and Oka 2008) How and in what ways did these polities function? How did these incipient leaders centralize authority and consolidate their power? What was the nature of relationships amongst Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 133 Bambandyanalo, Mapungubwe, and Great Zimbabwe? And what was the relationship between these larger settlements with small, more peripheral and frontier states? As in many regions around the world, larger and more built-up settlements that were presumably capitals have received more scholarly attention In contrast smaller more regional/rural chiefdoms that may or may not have been allied to the state capitals have received little or no attention (e.g., Usman 2001) It is important to note how smaller-scale albeit peripheral communities may have interacted with their more powerful neighbors Was the nature of their relations based on tributary and subordinate ties? Was it heterarchical? How may archaeology operationalize these relationships? Understanding these relationships has implications for knowing how and by what means incipient leaders emerge and consolidate power The emergence of social complexity and the state in southern Zambezia has been attributed to a variety of factors These include external trade (Huffman 1972, 1982, 1986b, 1996, 2005), accumulation of cattle (Beach 1998; Denbow 1984), religious ideology (Beach 1980, 1998) and climate change (Pikirayi 2001) Some researchers (e.g., Hall 1990; Manyanga 2006) have proposed the importance of warfare and coercion as one of the means used to accumulate and keep power but little archaeological evidence has been gathered thus far to support this hypothesis, at least, for the initial stages of social complexity While the material evidence for organized violence and warfare in precolonial southeast Africa is abundant for the second half for the second millennium (e.g Pikirayi 1993; Huffman 2007), archaeologists must intensify efforts to identify and develop the chronological context of warfare and its aftermath during the nascent stages of state formation The lines of evidence for operationalizing the archaeological recognition of warfare pertain to tensions over resources, societal attempts to monopolize resources, and fortification and aggregation at resource-rich areas in proximity to permanent sources of water Forms of evidence include oral testimonies, written records, iconography, weapons, fortifications, paleopathology, and violent destruction, disruption of cultural patterns, and the relocation of settlements (Holl 1985, 1997, 2003; Webster 1998:315) The currently available material evidence hints at the possibility that Iron Age communities of the Shashi-Limpopo Basin not only had military defense on their minds, but that they may have also engaged in organized violence in order to achieve objectives and political agendas.1 We propose that Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe achieved and maintained economic, political, and ideological hegemony through a combination of both peaceful and coercive means Certain material indicators combine to support this proposition, material signatures that relate to shifting patterns of settlement location, fortification, mortuary practices, territoriality, and migration, all of which combine to support warfare and violence hypotheses We hope that this paper will initiate the reevaluation and reinterpretation of current patterns in the archaeological landscape, contribute to the global literature on state formation, and open discussions within the African archaeology community on the pathways to complexity along lines now common place in other regions (Trigger 2003) We explore the role of coercion and warfare in the rise and fall of state societies in Southern Zambezia in a separate paper to be published soon (Kim and Kusimba 2008) 134 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 Defining the State Archaeology tells us that societal change is a universal cultural dynamic which all of humankind has embraced, and they continue to embrace, albeit at different moments and paces in history Not all societies evolved into states but many of those that did generally exhibit salient features that have guided archaeological theorizing on the emergence of the state (Bilman 2002; Carneiro 1981; Flannery 1998; Fried 1967; Johnson and Earle 2000; Keeley 1996; Marcus 1998; Service 1975; Spencer and Redmond 2004; Trigger 2003; Yoffee 2005) There are countless definitions of the state but for our purposes here, we will use Bruce Trigger (2003) since we believe it is more relevant to the African context we discuss in this article In Understanding Early Civilizations, Trigger (2003:92) defines the state as: “a politically organized society that is regarded by those who live in it as sovereign or politically independent and has leaders who control its social, political, legal, economic, and cultural activities” (2003:92) In this view, centralized control over many aspects of everyday life in a society is a defining feature for the state Power can be manifest in economic, political, physical, and ideological forms, and one would expect to see material indications for some or all of these forms within an emergent or established state Furthermore, due to the aggregating nature of states and the labor resources required to administratively run the requisite operations, significant numbers of human resources are necessarily present In describing early states, Trigger (2003:47) emphasizes the importance of kinship ties and how rulers regularly used force to maintain their authority His definition makes clear that early states were socially stratified, and that individuals occupying the highest strata possessed the most wealth, status, and political power, while concurrently possessing the means to maintain these distributions of wealth and power “The core of such an early state (or complex chiefdom) was an ethnic group, tribe, or ruler’s kindred to which other groups willingly or unwillingly paid tribute” (Trigger 2003:47) The means through which these members of the upper strata were able to gain and maintain their power likely included a mixture of physical as well as ideological power When discussing state-level societies, Trigger makes an important and necessary distinction between “city-state” and “territorial state” This dichotomy is germane to our discussion of Iron Age southern Zambezia, as there are differences in size, scale, and territorial extent for certain polities Trigger (2003:92) echoes Akin Mabogunje’s (1962) notion that city-states were relatively small polities, consisting of an urban core surrounded by farmland containing smaller units of settlement In contrast, territorial states possess a ruler who governed a larger region through a multileveled hierarchy of provincial and local administrators in a corresponding hierarchy of administrative centers (Huffman 1986c, 2007) In terms of archaeological markers, boundaries for early city-states were sometimes clearly demarcated by natural features, artificial markers, or walled fortifications, with populations ranging anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 (Trigger 2003:94) To illustrate case studies of early city-state civilizations, Trigger (2003:94) outlines evidence from the Uruk period (3500 to 3200 BC) in southern Mesopotamia In conjunction with the emergence of agricultural practices, the region also experienced increasing social stratification, organized warfare, urban centers, large public buildings, and a citystate system Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 135 Given these features, there are important inferences to be made First, the societies within this region were fairly sedentary and committed to their locations This is evident in the amount of agricultural and architectural investment put into the cities Second, populations had grown sufficiently in these urban centers, enough to accommodate all of the labor needs required for the urban construction Finally, it is clear that power and control were centralized, as large-scale production and architecture could only efficiently occur through coordinated planning and operational implementation It is thus evident that emergent and established prehistoric states were highly populous, socially stratified, complex societies in which asymmetries of power and wealth existed The leaders and elites within these societies were able to achieve their status and garner their power through a variety of means In sum, states can be characterized by centralized political authority resting in the hands of a small elite group, wherein the power is oftentimes physical, economic, and ideological by nature (Mann 1986; Morris 1998:98) Furthermore, an urban or semi-urban center often served as the central nodal point of interaction, serving as the capital and destination for agricultural and material tribute from the surrounding hinterland (Yoffee 2005:91) How may archaeologists operationalize the state archaeologically? As they rise, decline and eventually collapse, states inevitably leave certain clues about their history: technological, social, economic, and political In addition to markers indicating social stratification and wealth differentiation, these societies will also exhibit signs of religious and ceremonial functions, higher populations and centralized control over administrative functions (Flannery 1998:54, 55) As such, archaeologists can reconstruct daily life by studying the structural and symbolic edifices of an archaeological site This can include the architecture, temples and shrines, elite and non-elite residential quarters Pathways to Social Complexity and State Formation Having reviewed the defining characteristics of state-level societies and some of their material signatures, we now turn to the archaeology of Later Iron Age societies in southern Zambezia, where important transformations from acephalous to state societies occurred towards the end of the first millennium AD The question we address here is the form and degree to which states existed in prehistoric southern Zambezia What is the archaeological evidence there to indicate the presence or absence of state-like societies? Zambezia generally refers to all those regions drained by the Zambezi River and the Zimbabwe plateau (Pikirayi 2001:3) It covered five countries in Southern and Southeast Africa including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Mozambique The earliest recorded manifestations of social complexity and state formation in central and southern Africa are in Southern Zambezia Both in terms of coverage, prominence and controversy, research in the Zimbabwe plateau centered on Great Zimbabwe has dominated the region’s archaeology (e.g., Bent 1892; Beach 1980, 1998; Caton-Thompson 1970; Hall 1990; Huffman 1996; Ndoro 2001; Pikirayi 2001; Soper 2006) Within this region, commonly referred to by 136 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 archaeologists as the Zimbabwe Culture, archaeologists have defined a number of chiefdoms and states The Zimbabwe Culture is characterized by the presence of massive stone walls built in a variety of styles (Pikirayi 2001:3, see also Huffman 1996) Dating from approximately the eleventh to the late nineteenth centuries, the Zimbabwe Culture can be divided into three main cultural periods The first phase, the Mapungubwe phase, date from the mid-eleventh century until the late thirteenth century AD The site of Mapungubwe, the type-site for this first phase, attained regional prominence during the thirteenth century, managing the resources of a territory equivalent to a state in both political and economic terms (Pikirayi 2001:3) The second phase is the Great Zimbabwe phase dating from approximately 1270 to 1550 AD The second phase is highlighted by the city of Great Zimbabwe The third phase dated from the sixteenth century and was based at the Mutapa state and the Torwa polity (Pikirayi 2001:3) Although for purposes of this paper, we focus on the first two phases— Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe—we cannot effectively assess the emergence of these states regional dominance without first revisiting the region’s cultural history prior to Mapungubwe’s ascension From Pastoralism to Farming The earliest known inhabitants of the fertile highlands and open savanna grasslands of Zambezia were hunter-gatherers (Huffman 2007; Mitchell 2002; Walker 1995) These hunter-gatherer communities managed the land exploiting its resources, relying primarily on stone-tool technology until the late Holocene At about 150 BC, the region witnessed a major transformation The recovery of domestic fauna of Bos indicas and ovicaprids and pottery at a number of sites suggests the appearance and initiation of pastoralism to complement foraging as the primary means of subsistence Most archaeologists have attributed these initial transformations to migration However, we believe that the dynamics were subtler than merely one group moving into the region, with a relatively superior way of making a living, and completely overwhelming original inhabitants (Pikirayi 2001:73) The early first millennium subsistence strategies in southern Zambezia were thus foraging and pastoralism and the archaeological evidence suggests that the latter increasingly became the more dominant subsistence strategy as more people acquired cows Pastoralism ushered in the germ of inequality as those with more cows carried with them higher economic and social status Although relatively few pastoral sites are archaeologically known, the landscape would have been dotted with semi-sedentary pastoral camps, hamlets, and villages of Khoisan speakers (Pikirayi 2001:77) The first reported evidence of what would appear to be agrarian communities dates to the first millennium AD (Pikirayi 2001:80) Interestingly the majority of southern Africanists attribute these changes to Bantu speaking migrants from eastern and north-central Africa The evidence is drawn from the appearance in the archaeological record of a complete tool kit of iron technology, distinctive ceramics, and new crops (Huffman 1982; Mitchell 2002:259; Pikirayi 2001:80) Farming, put more accurately gardening, herding, and foraging, all combined to create a more diversified economy resulting in demographic growth (Huffman 1996) By the Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 137 fourth or fifth century AD the farming technology had crossed the Limpopo into northern South Africa and areas further south (Hall 1990; Mitchell 2002; Pikirayi 2001:79; Van der Merwe 1969; see Mitchell 2002 for more citations) The Zambezia landscape of the first millennium AD was dotted with temporary rockshelter settlements, semi-sedentary camps and villages, and permanent settlements Farming and pastoralism were extremely significant in transforming both the cultural mindset and the landscape Local and interregional trade flourished amongst foragers, herders, and farmers Iron smelters, blacksmiths, and potters prospered Change was in the air and it was rapid Demographic changes were regional Many areas previously uninhabited were now settled Residential areas became larger as did gardens and farmsteads Owning cattle signified wealth and status but also required labor to maintain Mitchell (2002:288) proposes that “domestic animals and crops imply private property; long-term storage of cereals suggests this must have been controlled within families or perhaps centrally within villages.” Presumably property rights and an adherence to territorially affiliated beliefs and ancestor cults were established at this time (Pikirayi 2001:79) Towards the mid/late first millennium the interaction sphere in Zambezia had extended to other areas Long-distance trade and exchange with the coast had been established and increasingly became one of the chief means of accumulating wealth in addition to pastoralism and farming (Mitchell 2002:288, 2005) The hunting and processing of ivory for export evidenced at larger sites indicates the complexity of coastal-Zambezian relationships, which promoted investment in the procurement of trade items in high demand Such demand required investment in the infrastructure necessary for producing these items Specialized craft activities, such as ivory working, recovered on larger first millennium sites also served as catalysts for development of related crafts including iron working and gold mining Ivory procurement created a group of highly specialized hunters who would have sought to restrict the specialized knowledge to their group Trade with the coast thus indirectly helped diversify the local and regional political economy of Zambezia In Mitchell’s words, “such specialisation…facilitated the expansion of trade and the possibilities for individuals or groups to benefit…at the expense of others, including opportunities for accumulating larger herds of cattle” (2002:289) In this regard rapid demographic growth, food security, favorable and stable climate, investment in highly specialized craft activities, and long-distance trade combined to lay the foundations for the development of the larger chiefdoms to become states in southern Zambezia (Manyanga 2006:21) In sum, it is evident that by the mid to late first millennium AD greater amounts of wealth and status were being conferred upon certain segments of societies in the region (Manyanga 2006:139) By the late first millennium AD, ivory and skins were already being exported overseas, with sites like Chibuene interfacing between interior and transoceanic trade routes (Mitchell 2002:300; Pwiti 2005; Sinclair 1982; Sinclair and Hakansson 2000) The presence of craft specialization and material symbols of high status are telling, and we can infer the onset of social stratification and private property on a level heretofore unseen in the region The germ for hierarchical relationships, social complexity and state development had been planted By the early centuries of the second millennium, these farming villages and their lifeways had become well established “Here and there small-scale 138 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 confederations of subsistence farmers lived in stable agricultural regimens well adapted to their natural surroundings, adjusting to these changes in their social environment” (Pikirayi 2001:95) These farming communities represented politically autonomous villages that would soon became states Precursor to State Development: Bambandyanalo The Iron Age sites known as Mapungubwe and Bambandyanalo on the farm Greefswald, west of the modern town of Musina in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, have aroused significant speculation ever since their discovery in the early 1930s (Fagan 1964:337) The area consists of a number of red sandstone hills, which dominate the geology of the area The main activities seem to have been focused on Bambandyanalo Hill and its adjacent valley, where extensive mounds are located, and Mapungubwe Hill just over a kilometer to the east, where extensive settlement was found on the hill, its adjacent slope/terrace and base Bambandyanalo (also known as K2 after the mounds found in the Near East) is located at the Greefswald farm, a few kilometers south of the Shashi-Limpopo confluence K2 has massive middens mixed with desiccated dung, measuring 200 m across (Huffman 2005, 2007; Robinson 1966; Pikirayi 2001:107; Summers 1967) Stratigraphic profiles have revealed that the occupants settled in the Bambandyanalo valley by successive or continuous occupations, and accumulated the mound of habitation debris that survives today (Fagan 1964:338) Possessing cultural remains related to the Leopard’s Kopje tradition, the site dates from the tenth to eleventh centuries (Pikirayi 2001:107) It was a substantial village, part of a settlement system that included Schroda, km to the northeast, and other Zhizho and Leopard’s Kopje villages (Pikirayi 2001:107) Compared to other periods, the K2/Mapungubwe period represents a time of intense occupation and expansion in the region, with sites oriented toward the rivers and floodplains (Manyanga 2006:80) The large, circular mound of occupation debris of Bambandyanalo measures some 182 m in diameter and up to 6m deep at its highest point (Fagan 1964:338) The main midden at Bambandyanalo, dating between 1030 and 1220 AD, stands out above the surrounding occupation area, reaching more than m deep in some places (Mitchell 2002:300) Covering more than and possibly housing as many as 2,000 people, the settlement consisted of pole-and-daga houses with gravel floors focused around and to the west of a large byre (Mitchell 2002:300–301) The people at Bambandyanalo were cattle herders and elephant hunters who worked extensively in ivory and bone (Fagan 1964:10, 343; Pikirayi 2001:107) They were also agriculturalists Ivory was carved into bangles and bracelets, while bone was made into points While these products were traded locally at first, they were exchanged out of the region for glass beads obtained from as the coast and towns like Chibuene (Pikirayi 2001:109; Sinclair 1982) The town had thus gained prominence by the early eleventh century Radiocarbon dates from test excavations indicate successive house floors and great amounts of domestic refuse all accumulated within a short period of time, maybe a single generation (Pikirayi 2001:109) Though researchers disagree as to exactly when Bambandyanalo was abandoned, it is clear that occupation was short-lived and abandonment was Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 139 somewhat sudden, with a transition of power to nearby Mapungubwe Hill (Mitchell 2002:302; Pikirayi 2001:109) According to Pikirayi (2001:107), the town of Bambandyanalo represents a significant step in the development of social complexity in the region Seventy-four skeletons have been excavated there, buried with pottery and some jaws of cattle The bodies of the 74 skeletons were normally lying on their sides in a flexed position, surrounded by pots (Fagan 1964:339, Meyer 1998; Steyn 1997; Steyn and Henneberg 1995a, b, 1996, 1997) A study of at least 40 of the individuals by Galloway (1959) proposed that the remains were likely to be of pre-Bantu populations of the “Boskop-Bush” in physical type and “Hottentot” in culture Galloway also argued that the remains could not have been Bantu since they exhibited non-Bantu characteristics Later research indicated that these individuals were Bantu (Rightmire 1970); the jury is still out on the ethnic identity of these people More research, including genetic studies, would be necessary to settle the question of the ethnic identity of the people of Bambandyanalo According to Fagan (1964), the first occupants of Mapungubwe Hill were the people who occupied Bambandyanalo in its latest stages, and their occupation is sealed from the later levels by a layer of black ash There is a complete break in the pottery sequence at this stage, and spindle whorls and abundant iron tools make their appearance In addition, complicated daga structures appear at Mapungubwe, along with gold and copper ornaments Taken in sum, there are indications that by the emergence of Mapungubwe’s occupation and Bambandyanalo’s abandonment in the early thirteenth century, profound social changes were occurring in the area during this transitionary phase (Fagan 1964:339; Mitchell 2002:302) What was the nature of these profound social changes, marked by Bambandyanalo’s abandonment, and what caused them? The incursions of Bantu migrants into the area and their incorporation into the cultural milieu of their hosts seem plausible (Fagan 1964:352) Rapid population expansion due to natural growth, intermarriage, migrations, and interethnic tensions may explain the rapid expansion and abandonment of Bambandyanalo in favor of Mapungubwe This view is bolstered by the archaeological evidence indicating the interruption of continuous occupation at Bambandyanalo by the arrival of new groups in the Greefswald region in the 11th century Brian Fagan (1964:340) believed that it was these immigrants along with the citizens of Bambandyanalo, who were the first inhabitants of Mapungubwe As stated earlier, the archaeological record shows that the second half of the first millennium witnessed profound changes in land use from primary subsistence based upon pastoralism to a combination of agrarian and pastoral and foraging strategies The migration theme is still a dominant way of seeing change in southern Africa, but we believe more archaeological research is necessary to fully parse through the range of possible interpretations regarding how the newcomers interacted with the preexisting populations at Bambandyanalo, and how these changes relate to the site’s abandonment and the occupation of Mapungubwe We posit that the ethnic mosaic in Africa and elsewhere has often been characterized by both cooperation and conflict Cooperation refers to the means through which people of different ethnic affiliations inhabiting different but complementary ecological zones amicably find a way of sharing resources In eastern Africa the institutionalization of blood brotherhood and sisterhood enabled those who would otherwise have been foes to freely trade and 140 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 trespass into each other’s territorial domains; for example, some groups gave passage to elephant hunters in exchange for sharing the ivory Conflict refers to competition over resources, which would have included good pasture and arable land, and coveted trade items in high demand regionally and extra-regionally (Herlehy 1984; Kusimba and Kusimba 2005; Stahl 2005) It is thus quite plausible that demographic stress carried with it undercurrents of ethnic and territorial tensions Whether these were sporadic outbreaks of violence or full-scale warfare needs to be revisited For example, could the layer of black ash at Mapungubwe Hill be indicative of conflict especially when we consider that the cultural pattern sealed below the layer harkens back to the pre-Iron Age culture at Bambandyanalo, whereas patterns above the layer belong to the ironworking culture of the Bantu? In sum, despite its size and the diversity and intensity of its material culture, Bambandyanalo was not yet a state by the time of its abandonment The settlement had become a central location for an aggregating population, the signaled initial manifestation of urbanism However, the archaeological record strongly indicates that Bambandyanalo lacked a high level of political centralization and control over various aspects of cultural life Huffman (2005, 2007) defines it as a level town, synonymous with regional chiefdoms Diversity in craft specialization and mortuary patterns point to social inequalities, ethnic, gender, and class differentiation, which are all typical in complex societies Southern Zambezia was on its way toward statehood Emerging Statehood: Mapungubwe The hill known as Mapungubwe (‘the hill of the Jackals’) stands out conspicuously amongst those that surround it, both because of its precipitous cliffs, over 61 m high in places, and because of the wide valley around it (Fagan 1964:338) Located just over a kilometer east of Bambandyanalo Hill, Mapungubwe is a flat-topped, steep sided hill measuring 350 m long and 80–100 m across On the southern side of Mapungubwe is a well-defined terrace of occupation debris, occupied at the same time as the hill The hill’s top is flat and contains remains of elite residences (Pikirayi 2001:115) The town appears to have developed beneath from the southwest in the middle of the eleventh century and extended towards the hill top reaching the summit in the early twelfth century (Hall 1990:77; Pikirayi 2001:115) Mapungubwe, like many contemporary settlements in the region, was spatially organized to reflect status differences Elite residences were located on the hilltop, and the steepsided nature of the hill and its limited access to the summit afforded ruling elites with much needed security (Pikirayi 2008, personal communication) Ordinary citizens homes were often built a respectable distance in the valleys Both residential types are characterized by what archaeologists refer to as central cattle pattern or Zimbabwe Pattern (Hall 1990:82; Huffman 2005, 2007; Manyanga 2006:140) Elite residences were constructed of dry stone architecture and have come to symbolize a departure from more heterarchical forms of social organization to hierarchical ones in southern Africa, which Huffman (1986c, 2007) defines as the Zimbabwe Pattern Residential structures on the hilltop were clearly constructed for elites For example, at Mapungubwe and its major satellite towns, livestock and the majority of Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 141 the human population lived beneath the hill, the top of which was reserved for only a small part of the community (Hall 1990:82; Huffman 1996, 2005, 2007) Archaeological finds recovered at the elite homes include highly polished pottery in diverse forms and styles, gold beads and wire bangles, iron and copper objects, and trade beads (Pikirayi 2001:115) Elite burials at the summit of the hill were richly adorned (Hall 1990:77) The hilltop was the most desirable piece of real estate Old and decrepit homes would be leveled and new ones built instead of relocating In contrast, commoner residences were characterized by mud-on-wooden frame homes that were often surrounded by a wooden and sometimes stone wall Homes were often located adjacent to cattle corals to the point where it is archaeologically difficult to tease out the precise locations of homes and cattle corals Archaeological finds at these locations are dominated by utilitarian pottery that is qualitatively inferior to that recovered at hilltop residences (Manyanga 2006) The political economy of Mapungubwe was based on agropastoralism and longdistance trade Regional trade involving the eastern Kalahari sandveld of Botswana, south-western Zimbabwe, northern South Africa and southern Mozambique flourished between Mapungubwe and surrounding towns The circulations of agricultural produce, metallurgical objects (copper and iron), and cattle formed the backbone of regional trade (Manyanga 2006:140) The recovery of huge collections of trade items including ceramics and glass beads at many sites in the ShashiLimpopo Valley and beyond points to trade with the coast (Mitchell 2005; Pikirayi 1993; Pwiti 2005; Sinclair 1987) Recently, archaeologists have emphasized trade with the coast, sometimes minimizing the role regional trade had on the region’s economy We believe that coastal trade, while important, merely interlocked on an economy that was already highly developed and quite complexly organized (Pikirayi 2001:116; Pwiti 2005; Wood 2000) The quality of finished bone, ivory, pottery, and iron tools leaves little doubt that this was the work of well-financed and highly skilled craftspeople Investment in time and training points to the possible presence of full-time time specialists engaged in craft activities, and further suggests the robustness of the regional economy and the ability and willingness to invest in quality products by elites Hall (1990:80) is convinced that Mapungubwe had gained state status Clear distinctions between rulers and commoners were being made in all areas of daily life, consumption, and mortuary practices For instance, the recovery of numerous items of gold in three burials betrays the high status of those individuals (Mitchell 2002:303) The gold rhinoceros, bowl, and scepter recovered from a male burial at Mapungubwe Hill suggests that gold had become a symbol of royalty and its use and circulation restricted to the ruling class elite This evidence stands in stark contrast with an elite child’s burial from Bambandyanalo that was accompanied by several hundred glass beads, and seven large turquoise examples of probable Chinese origin (Mitchell 2002:303) As beads became more common in the region, elites shifted to a rarer prestige item—gold—to maintain social distance from commoners At the zenith in the late eleventh century, Mapungubwe had attained the status of state capital Its leaders boasted control of a vast region held together by a complex network of economic and social interaction and a tributary system (Pikirayi 2001:116) The town served as the primary manufacturing center for craft items including iron and copper objects, copper wire, carved ivory, and elite pottery At the 142 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 same time, the town monopolized the distribution of exotica from the coast including glass beads (Davison 1972; Popelka et al 2005) The presence of external trade across the Indian Ocean also indicates the incorporation of southern Africa into the global interaction sphere that enabled local elites to further consolidate their position as they extended their reach to frontier regions through alliance building and coercion or threat of coercion (Kusimba 2007) The rapid rise of Mapungubwe to prominence is in part closely allied with the developments at Bambandyanalo However, in the second half of the twelfth century, cracks began to develop in a once well-articulated hierarchy The period between 1100 and 1220 AD was characterized by civil unrest,2 decline in quality of life, demographic decline, and severe reduction in size of farmland The majority of the town’s residents moved to other regions, creating a smaller albeit impoverished community The hill was reoccupied after 1250 AD, when some of the stone walls were erected as well The reasons for Mapungubwe’s decline and abandonment have not yet been satisfactorily explained Mitchell (2002:302) believes that Mapungubwe’s decline and eventual abandonment was due to a complex series of social and political events Droughts are common in the area and it is plausible that shifts in environmental conditions destabilized the status quo and weakened elite control over social, ritual, economic and political power Leaders who failed to fulfill their citizens’ needs often lost legitimacy and found themselves isolated In most instances in Africa and elsewhere, people elected to vote with their feet This was very likely the chief reason for the rapid depopulation of Mapungubwe By 1300 AD, Mapungubwe was no longer inhabited and the political power based shifted north on the Zimbabwe Plateau (Pikirayi 2001:116) Apparently, this collapse had nothing to with climate change as was once believed (see for example Tyson and Lindesay 1992; Tyson et al 2000, 2002) but may have been due to political factors (Smith et al 2007) In sum, despite its short-lived history, Mapungubwe functioned as a city, satisfactorily fitting Trigger’s (2003:92) criteria of a state: a politically organized society that is regarded by those who live in it as sovereign or politically independent and has leaders who control its social, political, legal, economic, and cultural activities Mapungubwe was a socially stratified society It had an urban core and significant wealth in the hands of a few of its citizens and a large commoner population The town’s elite had developed networks of alliance and economic ties to regions beyond, including the Swahili coast 640 km away Without doubt, Mapungubwe was the first state to emerge in the region Great Zimbabwe: A Territorial State? Following the decline of Mapungubwe in the late thirteenth century, political centralization shifted more than 300 km northward to south-central Zimbabwe centered on Great Zimbabwe (Caton-Thompson 1970; Garlake 1983; Huffman 1996; Manyanga 2006; Ndoro 2001; Pikirayi 2001:123) Major centers controlled by The evidence for this is inferred from several widespread burning episodes at the site before and after 1250 AD (Mitchell 2002: 302) Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 143 a powerful elite arose at Chivowa, Gumanye, and Great Zimbabwe Hill (Pikirayi 2001:123; Sinclair 1987) Usually known as Zimbabwe Tradition sites, after the type-site at Great Zimbabwe Hill, they were generally located on fortified flat hilltops in close proximity to permanent springs As the leadership consolidated and accumulated more wealth, they fortified these settlements creating hill-top palaces that afforded leaders commanding views of the surrounding landscape (Manyanga 2006:82) while simultaneously camouflaging them from those below In contrast to K2/Bambandyanalo and Mapungubwe sites which were located on terraces, the Zimbabwe settlements shifted to more elevated hilltops with fortifications and water (Manyanga 2006:82) The decline of Mapungubwe partially caused by drought related stress, severe water shortage, famine, pestilence, and warfare ushered in the rise of Great Zimbabwe as the most powerful urban complex In time, Great Zimbabwe was to become the center of a powerful hegemony of allied lineages and by far the largest precolonial state in southern Zambezia, and the most commanding presence in southern Africa and, in modern times, the pride of Africa (Pikirayi 2001:124) The city of Great Zimbabwe covered 720 and was one of the largest in subSaharan Africa (Sinclair et al 1993) A perimeter wall enclosed two main complexes, the Hill Complex and the Great Enclosure Outside these elite residences lived up to 20,000 people, doubtless commoners or vassals of the elites Significant evidence of ritual is found in elite residences of the Hill Complex, including six soapstone birds distinctive to this site Spatial segregation, stone architecture, and the prominence of the Zimbabwe Hill were all meant to establish and separate elite spaces and elite decision-making The extent of the Great Zimbabwe state has been estimated at 50,000 km2, including much of the Save-Runde catchment in southcentral Zimbabwe, which was a major conduit to the coastal trading ports such as Sofala This hinterland is dotted with stone ruins, home to vassals that controlled distinct territories and exchanged gold for cattle, cloth and beads with the kings of Zimbabwe Archaeologists place the founding of Great Zimbabwe, by Leopard’s Kopje farmers (the ancestors of modern Shona), to the tenth century AD (Beach 1980, 1998; Pikirayi 2001:124) Researchers believe the settlement was constructed over several centuries starting from approximately 900 AD (Huffman 1996; Ndoro 2001:22) Elite monopolization of resource rich areas including well-watered and fertile pasture land, coupled with investment in the crafts and control of local and regional market systems, would have created opportunities for accumulating much wealth The accumulated wealth was in the form of cattle, food, women, and children Like Mapungubwe, earlier Great Zimbabwe elites financed the local craft industries including iron and gold mining, smelting and smithing, elephant hunting and ivory carving and stone cutting and carving These crafts were labor intensive and were carried out on a scale that required astute leadership with managerial skills to compel farmers and herders to work on public works By the 12th century, Great Zimbabwe elites had extended their networks east and added the coast as a major trading partner (Kusimba 2007; Pikirayi 2001:125; Pwiti 2005; Sinclair 1982; Sinclair and Hakansson 2000) Wealth drawn from regional and coastal trade was large enough to encourage elite investment in dry masonry stone architecture Transformations in building technology from mud and daub structures to dry stone 144 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 masonry residences surrounded by perimeter walls during the 13th century institutionalized inequality, whose foundation had been laid several centuries earlier beginning with Bambandyanalo By 1270 an elaborate urban complex covering many villages and smaller towns and centered on Great Zimbabwe had emerged in southern Africa (Pikirayi 2001:125) This complex was engaged with its hinterland that extended in all directions into modern day Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, and Mozambique The city of Great Zimbabwe was a metropolis with many neighborhoods, including elite residences, ritual centers, public ceremonial courts, public forums, markets, as well as houses for commoners and artisans (Pikirayi 2001:129) The site covered a broad area, housing a large population within a complex of massive walled structures (Pikirayi 2001:129) The city can be divided into three main architectural zones, these being the Hill Complex, the Great Enclosure and the Valley ruins (Ndoro 2001:24) In between the Hill Complex, the Great Enclosure, and the Valley was a large, open, and apparently unoccupied space (Pikirayi 2001:131) Perimeter walls were constructed to enclose these sites, with peripheral settlements outside of the walls accommodating population growth and other urban functions “The analyses of spatial organization delineate a complex social organization in which authority and power were delegated to an elite sector, that demonstrated its status not only by being in the forefront of political and ceremonial displays but through the medium of its residences” (Pikirayi 2001:134) Functional as well as social divisions occurred in the main precincts of the urban center—the Hill Complex, the Great Enclosure, the Valley complexes, and the peripheral residences were delineated (Pikirayi 2001:134) From an archaeological standpoint Great Zimbabwe carried the features of a state The society was clearly socially stratified, with considerable wealth and power concentrated in the hands of an upper strata of community members As noted by Flannery (1998), material markers for states include both temples and royal residences Both are visible within the urban complex While there is debate about exactly where some of these structures were located within the urban complex, it is clear is that royalty and spiritual mediums resided within enclosures built of stone, protected from public view and access Furthermore, it is clear that the city and its surrounding vicinity featured a significant population Estimated population sizes for the settlement and its immediate area have ranged from a few thousand up to 30,000 (Hall 1990:116; Ndoro 2001:22) Pikirayi (2001:130) estimates a population of between 11,000 and 18,000, with the majority living in houses outside of the stone enclosures According to Trigger (2003:99), urban centers often contained 20% to 80% or more of the total population of a city-state These urban centers were often surrounded by a number of smaller and dispersed villages or hamlets Several hundred villages, for example, surrounded Benin We can thus extrapolate that the territory of the Great Zimbabwe polity was extensive, including lands between the eastern Kalahari and the Indian Ocean, and the heartland was a high plateau between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers (Hall 1990:91) Settlement stratification is exhibited in the area for the state of Zimbabwe, with a number of towns that had stonewalls of distinctive design and patterns of decorations “These constructions are known as madzimbahwe (singular, dzimbahwe), the Shona term for the residence of a chief” (Hall 1990:92; Hannan 1974) Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 145 More than 50 madzimbahwe are known, mostly on the edges of the Zimbabwe plateau overlooking the lowlands of the Limpopo and Sabi rivers to the south and east and the Zambezi valley to the north (Hall 1990:92) Hall (1990:92) maintains that Great Zimbabwe may have operated as a capital for regional madzimbahwe settlements throughout the area The madzimbahwe were usually located on elevated hilltops and often enclosed by walling connecting boulders and other natural features “The carefully built stone walls clearly served to set those who lived in the dzimbahwe apart from the majority of the population and occasionally there are other indications of high status” (Hall 1990:93) These indications include items of copper, beads, and ivory At Chumnungwa, a dzimbahwe located near the southern edge of the Zimbabwe plateau, seven burials have been unearthed containing gold grave goods (Garlake 1973) It is probable that the wood-and-plaster houses of the ordinary populace once surrounded all the walled hills, and this interpretation has been supported by archaeological work at several sites (Hall 1990:93) Much, and perhaps the majority, of the population of early Zimbabwe lived away from the madzimbahwe in small villages that fell within the political and economic domain of the regional centers of the capital itself, and there may have been hundreds of villages fitting this pattern (Hall 1990:93) Given the archaeological record for the Zimbabwe state, it is apparent that the state operated as a set of regional centers from which members of the nobility signified their authority over the mass of the population by lavish public architecture, symbols of status, and ideological control Pikirayi (2008, personal communication) maintains that Great Zimbabwe architecture played an important ideological role throughout history, and has always been a potent symbol of wealth, status, and power According to Hall (1990:95), the basis and the object of the political control was control over the economy—“the network of transactions that linked peasant villages, madzimbahwe and the capital and, beyond this, the state itself with the wider commercial world.” In such a system, the peasant villages were the main source of surplus production and tribute “Thus the internal economy of the Zimbabwe state must have involved agropastoral production beyond the needs of the ordinary village community, generating an economic surplus which formed the basis of the transactions that constituted the political economy” (Hall 1990:96) As stated earlier, Trigger (2003:92) writes that territorial states possess a ruler who governed a larger region through a multileveled hierarchy of provincial and local administrators in a corresponding hierarchy of administrative centers We argue that the material record suggests that at its height Great Zimbabwe may have operated as more of a territorial state Other researchers seem to concur For instance, Pikirayi (2006, personal communication) maintains that Great Zimbabwe cannot be perceived simply as a city-state for the obvious reasons connected with settlement patterns and hierarchies in south-central Zimbabwe between 1300 and 1450 AD “These hierarchies assert to the primacy or dominance of Great Zimbabwe over other zimbabwe (royal) settlements in the region” (Pikirayi 2006, personal communication) Furthermore, according to Ndoro (2001:22), Great Zimbabwe’s power was based mainly on cattle husbandry, crop cultivation, and the domination of trade routes between the gold fields on the Zimbabwe plateau and the Indian Ocean in the east, with trade contacts between Zimbabwe and the Swahili coast having been established well before 900 AD (Kusimba 1999) 146 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 Accordingly, given the large territorial spatial distribution of Zimbabwe Culture sites and the control of trade routes to the coast, we would categorize Great Zimbabwe as a territorial state More regional archaeological surveys followed by intensive and extensive horizontal and vertical excavations are necessary to completely map site distribution, chronology, intrasite and intersite relationships (Sinclair et al 1993) Material remains recovered from such a long-term study will serve to place Great Zimbabwe’s real influence and authority over its surrounding and adjacent hinterlands and move us beyond the current posturing that has been part of the debate of Zimbabwe’s greatness (e.g., Garlake 1973, 1978; Huffman 1982, 1996; Ndoro 2001; Pikirayi 2001) Our favorite comparative example would be the Inca territorial state in Andean South whose leaders resided at Cuzco and held power and authority over a number of provincial administrative centers scattered throughout the polity’s hinterland (Arkush and Stanish 2005; D’Altroy 2002; Hemming 1970; Moseley 2001) It seems very likely as Manyanga (2006) points out, that Great Zimbabwe operated in a similar capacity, albeit on a different scale than its South American counterpart Discussion: Pathways to Complexity In this article we have made a strong case in support of the hypothesis that the inhabitants of the Shashi-Limpopo Basin had attained some level of socio-political sophistication by the 11th century AD which had readied their societies to depart from largely acephalous and egalitarian formations to heterarchical and hierarchical societies (Huffman 2005, 2007; Manyanga 2006:142) The cultural sequences of southern Zambezia, from Bambandyanalo to Mapungubwe and finally to Great Zimbabwe, make it apparent that a combination of factors propelled the region on a path to social complexity: sedentism, livestock production, agriculture, region and interregional trade, and crafts specialization (Garlake 1982:13) Favorable climatic conditions and increased interaction amongst communities pursuing different but complementary subsistence strategies made possible the sharing and exchange of ideas and systems of knowledge that once held sway within specific ethnic and subsistence groups Migration and settlement of pastoralists in what was previously a huntergatherer domain and the later settlement of agrarian communities, along with the incorporation of knowledge from all the groups, created a vibrant community that would elevate individuals and personalities from the groups to leadership positions Complex society archaeologists have emphasized the generation of surplus, accumulation of wealth and investment in craft specialization as among the most important indices for determining levels of complexity Generation of surplus is indicative of societal efficiency in subsistence production and higher levels of investment Food surplus means food security, which frees people to engage in other forms of labor on a part-time and full-time basis, for example, elephant hunting, iron and gold working, ivory and stone carving, masonry, basketry, pottery making, and trade Food security and increasing sedentism especially amongst previously forager and pastoral communities would have naturally encouraged demographic changes Households that had more children were thus more likely to take advantage of their number to gain access to more resources Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 147 The archaeological record clearly shows that Bambandyanalo, Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe and many other contemporaneous sites were located in resourcerich areas with good water as well as arable and grazing land These settlements offered more opportunities and attracted more people from the surrounding regions Settlement aggregation in these settlements required management of resources and people, thus creating opportunities for investment in more highly specialized crafts, local and interregional trade, accumulation of wealth, power, and status What were the specific variables that led to statehood, both for Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe? The rulers of Mapungubwe controlled substantial herds of livestock, which they traded widely (Hall 1990:89) But would cattle alone lead to more centralization? After all, anyone could own cattle and there is no way of telling whether ownership of cattle was restricted to only the dominant households Thus, Hall (1990:89) believes that neither trade nor cattle wealth explanations are sufficient to account for emergent complexity, since they stress the role of the forces of production without taking into account the relations of production Could the incipient leaders in the early settlements in the Limpopo basin seek forms of wealth that were qualitatively different from livestock, that provided them with a means of breaking out of the chiefly cycle of fusion and fission? Mapungubwe leaders would have monopolized trade in beads and cloth and converted the revenue into real wealth and power The other means through which real power could have been exercised was through coercion or threat of military power to compel the smaller-scale communities to enter into a tributary relationship with more powerful societies Hall (1990:89) hypothesizes that “the rulers of Mapungubwe and other states that were to follow in southern Africa commanded military power, even though the evidence for this is, at present, unknown in the archaeological record.” What resulted was a Mapungubwe state that created a pattern in which cattle, military service and other forms of tribute would have flowed inwards to the major centers of power, while beads, cloth and other valued signifiers of high status would have moved outwards to regional centers and to local chiefs who acknowledged the suzerainty of the Mapungubwe kings (Hall 1990:90) Hence the Mapungubwe case demonstrates that the means to compel and coerce a sizable population were important for rulers of an emerging state In the case of Great Zimbabwe, pioneer researchers emphasized the prominence of long-distance trade with the Swahili coast as the primary impetus in Great Zimbabwe’s transformation to the state (Garlake 1982:10; Huffman 1972, 1982, 1986a) Great Zimbabwe exported gold and imported a variety of items, including glass beads, cloth, porcelain, stoneware, and earthenware (Pikirayi 2001:20) Advocates of the long-distance trade model maintain that the managerial elite at Great Zimbabwe monopolized trade with rural and frontier zones with Great Zimbabwe playing a central role as collection, processing, and distribution center for gold, ivory, copper, and iron to regional and coastal entrepots on the Mozambican coast (Huffman 1972, 1996) It is understandable that modern perspectives are critical of the view privileges trade as the primary transformative factor Pikirayi (2001:21) sees the emergence and organization of agriculture, management of cattle, propagation of culture, and control of trade as the key factors contributing to the rise of states in southern Africa He maintains that imports played a minimal role in the Shona economy since gold 148 Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 mining was not a full-time specialty He favors the internal dynamism argument, proposing that long distance trade interlocked a regional economy that was already thriving, thus giving rise to a hierarchical society This view is echoed by Manyanga (2006:114) who sees long-distance trade as a major builder of wealth and status among Great Zimbabwe’s leadership However, Manyanga holds that trade was not the primary cause for the social cleavages In his words: “it is unlikely that external trade and the products thereof made a sudden appearance on local systems that were in a state of fragmentation without any form of centralized organization” (Manyanga 2006:144) This new perspective is supported by archaeological evidence indicative of elite control of strategic resources such as cattle, ivory, iron ore, copper, and gold Further evidence points to elite investment and monopolization of extractive crafts technologies such as iron working and gold panning, mining and processing, and possibly specialized elephant hunting (e.g., Denbow 1984; Miller 1996; Wilmsen 1989) The wealth generated from these ventures presumably facilitated trade with the coast (Mitchell 2002:327, 328; Pikirayi 2001:35) Thus the emergence of Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe as capitals for powerful polities in southern Zambezia in the second millennium AD was a consequence of many variables The ability to control access to resources or trade routes is an important element of emergent complexity and political centralization Embedded in this proposition is power of a physical and military nature, a power that can restrict access to wealthcreating resources and production For instance, control over iron production was quite important for rulers, and the physical force needed to monopolize access to iron resources that were beyond the political control of the state capital was probably a necessity Archaeologists have hinted that coercion, of one kind or another, certainly played a role in maintaining elite power in Southern Zambezia (Mitchell 2002:329) Once asymmetries in power had been established, what strategies leaders use to stay in power and accumulate more wealth, status, and power? The pathways and mechanisms through which power is centralized will differ from case to case In this case, elites initially accumulated wealth in cattle and later invested in gold and ivory trade with the coast To so, they also invested in local and regional infrastructures that made it viable for communities living and exploiting different but complementary resources to be willing to comply and be incorporated into the regional political economy Both peaceful and coercive means were used to extend elite power to the frontier chiefdoms and minor states The point about peaceful means has been strongly made by Thomas Huffman (1972:365): “As the paramount chief’s wealth increased, the population of the royal settlement would swell, partly because of the prestige of living in the settlement and the chance that some of the wealth might find its way through the normal redistributive channels.” Ironically while Huffman acknowledges the need for the military and public works to control this increased population, he neglects to discuss the possibility that involuntary and coercive means of incorporating peripheral societies were options open to a determined and increasingly powerful leadership Ideology and coercion played just as important a role as did agriculture, long-distance trade, livestock production, and metalworking We need to recognize the possibility of internal conflicts, coercion, and exploitation between classes and social segments within emergent complex societies For instance, while some researchers see the use of elevated hilltops by elites for their Afr Archaeol Rev (2008) 25:131–152 149 residences as a means for delineating social status, we believe this kind of settlement pattern may also reflect concerns over security and threat (Kim and Kusimba, forthcoming) Similarly, while many of the walls for Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe may have served a social demarcation function, we believe that they may also have been constructed for defensive functions as well We are convinced that sufficient evidence exists in the available archaeological evidence to address the possibility of warfare and coercion (Kim and Kusimba, forthcoming) Concluding remarks In sum, the evidence discussed in this article points to the emergence of social stratification and complexity during the Iron Age in southern Africa Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe exhibit clear signatures of social inequality symbolized in monumentality Mapungubwe was a nascent state on its way to statehood but this trajectory was interrupted, and the settlement abandoned for reasons that archaeologists have not fully explained In the case of Great Zimbabwe, it is evident that the polity was a territorial state at its height of power Great Zimbabwe exercised political and economic influence beyond its urban core to the hinterland and frontier societies How extensive was Great Zimbabwe’s hegemony? What forms of power did it cultivate, and through what means? Archaeologists have emphasized peaceful and non-violent means as primary factors contributing to the rise of social complexity in southern Africa However, a significant amount of physical force is necessary for any society to control resources, enforce labor, exact taxation and tribute, enforce cleavages in social rank, accumulate and hoard wealth, create specialized goods, and engage in regional and international trade which required protection of traders and trade routes Although the use or threat to use military force to compel commoners to one’s bidding is sometimes necessary, leaders understand that ideological persuasion to complement brute force is preferable In our next paper we will explore the importance of warfare and ideology in the emergence and maintenance of state like polities in southern Africa Acknowledgements We are grateful to a number of colleagues who have shared their time and insights with us in completing this paper, including Robert Carneiro, Lawrence Keeley, 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